Statutory Interpretation 1

Question 1

How is SI broken down into 4 steps?

Answer 1

1. Text
2. Context = syntactic presumptions
3. Purpose
4. Legal presumptions

Question 2

Why do Statutes need to be interpretated?

Answer 2

1. Problems inherent in use of language
2. Problems inherent in use of legal language
3. Poor drafting
4. Due to limits of human foresight (maybe emergency may arise, change in technology)

Question 3

Nature of Statute

Answer 3

State law MUST always comply w constitution
State law prevails common law
Judges NO authority to create or modify statutes
Courts should ask what Parliament intended